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TRP: Jasper and Larkin (Elevator)
Coyote: Day 209. Jasper asks Larkin to go on a date with her into the Undercity in order to distract Larkin from her problems. The entrance to the Undercity was a hole in the wall in the sewers. Jasper followed it for a while until they reached an elevator at the end. Well— Mishka, the elf, has called it an elevator. It was apparently some kind of ancient magical technology built into the ruins of the Undercity. Jasper frowned at it suspiciously. It was old and rusted and looked like it hadn’t been used in centuries. She kicked it. “D’you figure we should really take this thing?” Jasper didn’t really trust magic or technology. Seemed like a lot of bullshit, frankly. Jen: ''' "God, no," Larkin said after listening to the awful metallic creaking sound the thing made upon being kicked. Seemed like a perfect example of a fucking death trap, but if Haeth had used it to hide his contraband, maybe that was just the secret. Nobody in their right mind would use this thing. She inspected it a bit more closely, trying to shake it where it hung suspended and sticking her head in between the rusted metal doors that looked like guillotine blades. "Might be our only option, though," Larkin concluded sourly. '''Coyote: “I swear to god he said something about it,” Jasper mused to herself. Don’t use the elevator? Use the elevator? Something about a hatch. They needed to go down. Jasper stepped into the elevator and examined the inside. Huh. Buttons. What were the buttons for? She glanced at Larkin to see if Larkin would step in too. Jen: ''' "How far down do you think we need to go?" Larkin asked, watching as Jasper went into the elevator. Ballsy. Thing looked heavy enough to collapse under its own weight alone. '''Coyote: “Dunno,” Jasper said. “He said it was at the bottom of the shaft, and usually someone on the Basha’s side picks it up from there.” Hey, neat. A lever. Jasper pulled it. Nothing happened. Jasper frowned. Jen: ''' Larkin set down her pack and undid the two coils of rope she'd brought for this. She tied the ends to the metal doorframe around the ellivater-thingy and looped one around her waist in a harness-like fashion, then held the other out to Jasper. "For Mask's sake," she said, "stop touching stuff. And here, use this." '''Coyote: The elevator creaked underneath Jasper. Eh, it was fine. If the elevator fell, Jasper could just, like, fly up again or something. It was cool. Jasper wrapped the rope around herself. She found a small hatch at the bottom of the elevator and forced it open, then began to scale down carefully. She was good at this shit. In and out. Jen: ''' "Jasper, don't-" Larkin began, but it was too late. Jasper was in and down the hatch. Larkin sighed, checked the knots on the rope, then carefully stepped into the cabin to descend after Jasper. '''Coyote: Jasper glanced up, amused. It was nice of Larkin to worry, she supposed, but it wasn’t like Jasper was being reckless. She’d been climbing up and down buildings since she was a kid. Jasper, paused, suddenly. She looked up at Larkin, scowling above her. God, it was so funny when Larkin scowled. Jasper still wasn’t sure if Larkin was just always worried about stuff or if that was just her face. “Hey Larkin,” Jasper said, grinning. “Watch.” Jasper unsheathed the knife from her belt and cut the rope holding herself up. Jasper plummeted straight down. Jen: ''' What the fuck. What the fuck. Larkin could only stare as Jasper fell, her mouth open to shout but no sound came. '''Coyote: Jasper tapped her heels together about fifty feet from the bottom, and the flying spell caught her. Smirking, she flew back up to where Larkin was and hovered a few feet away. “There,” Jasper said. “See? Nothing to worry about.” Above, the elevator groaned and cracked, suddenly. Jasper frowned, glancing up. Huh. Maybe it couldn’t take the weight of Larkin climbing down. Then, all at once, something snapped— a cable, maybe, it sounded like— and the elevator plummeted down towards them in the small shaft with no room to move out of the way. Jen: ''' Larkin lost her grip and fell, caught half a heartbeat later by the safety knot in her rope. The cabin above made a hideous screeching sound, half jammed in between the metal walls and with its weight tearing on whatever mechanism had held it. Larkin dangled beneath it, trying desperately to get a grip on the rope, on the latch, on anything to pull herself back up before being squashed to death. '''Coyote: Jasper didn’t think, didn’t make a plan— just reacted on instinct. She cut the rope Larkin dangled from and grabbed her. If they dove down into the shaft, the elevator would crush them once they hit the bottom. Instead, Jasper dove for the open hatch leading into the elevator, pulling both her and Larkin inside in mid-air. Jasper curled into a ball with Larkin and let them plummet down inside. The elevator smashed into the bottom of the shaft with an ear-spitting crash. Above then, the shaft rumbled and collapsed, and rocks fell heavily on the top of the elevator. Jasper let go of Larkin and rolled off her. They were alive. Sitting inside the collapsed shaft, inside the elevator, all the way at the bottom. The elevator doors opened with a pleasant ding!, leading to an open hallway. “Huh,” Jasper said weakly. Jen: ''' "Fuck," Larkin gasped, lying on her back and still clinging to Jasper with one hand. "Oh my god. Fuck. Jasper. What the fuck." '''Coyote: Jasper scoffed. “You’re welcome.” God, Larkin might’ve fucking died if Jasper hadn’t been right there. If Jasper hadn’t pulled that dumb prank and flown up to her, Jasper might not‘ve been close enough to grab her. Oh god. Oh god, that... that hand resting on her chest was actually pretty nice. Huh. Jen: ''' The dust of stone and metal stung in Larkin's eyes, tearing them up. She blinked a few times, against the debris and the rushing of blood in her ears. God. Mask. That could've been it. Could've been fucking it- if it hadn't been for Jasper. Before the shock wore off, before she could think clearly again, Larkin rolled around, dragged herself half on top op Jasper and pressed a hard, desperate, happy-to-be-alive kiss on her lips. '''Coyote: For a moment, Jasper just lay there in shock. Breathing in the dusty air, feeling the shape of Larkin’s body on top of her. The shape of her mouth. The way her heartbeat pounded like a small bird. It was amazing. Amazing. Then Jasper breathed in. She reacted on instinct— no thinking, no plan. She pulled Larkin the rest of the way on top of her, then pushed up, dragging Larkin upright and shoving her against the collapsed elevator wall, kissing her hard and fast. Larkin smelled like blood and steel. Her body was small and lithe— so strong, yet oddly delicate. Jasper’s heartbeat roared in her ears, and for a second, she just stood there, absorbing every detail of what it felt like to kiss Larkin in case she never got to do it again. Then Jasper let go, and backed up. She couldn’t stop grinning. Jen: ''' "Huh," Larkin said, her lips, her face, her whole body prickling with the feeling of Jasper pressed against her, and the desire to have it again. "Huh." She grinned, then couldn't help but laugh, a ragged, breathless laughter, as she steadied herself with her back against the wall. Mask above, what had that been? '''Coyote: Jasper grabbed her bag of tools off the floor. She wound up the remainder of the rope in case they could use it and slung it over her shoulder. She didn’t comment, but kept grinning. Iomedae. If she had to fall down an elevator shaft and almost die to kiss Larkin fucking Basha, it was worth it. She glanced up. “I, uh. I think we’re fucked. I don’t think we can go up that way.” Jen: ''' "Ah," Larkin said dumbly, following Jasper's look. Her grin and the excitement vanished, replaced by a much less pleasant gut feeling. "No. Shit, I guess not." She detached herself from the wall to go take a cautious look out into the corridor. "Got only one option then," she said. Just fucking hoped their little stunt hadn't attracted anything nasty. '''Coyote: Jasper nodded. She picked her knife up off the ground, then sheathed it. Then she winced. The elevator had little lights in it, small glowstones welded into the wall. Ahead of them, though, the tunnel was pitch black. "Ah, fuck," she muttered. "Fuck. Larkin, I can't, uh... Maybe you should, uh.... fuck." Jasper was blind as a fucking bat down here. Jen: ''' So they were going to pretend nothing had happened? Well, Larkin could do that. Despite the fact that the shadow of Jasper's mouth on hers still lingered and... ah, fuck, this was serious. She had to stop thinking about kissing Jasper and start making a plan to get out. It took Larkin a moment to understand what Jasper meant. She followed Jasper's glance to the little glowstones in the walls and got an idea. She unsheathed a knife and gestured at them. "Hey. Help me get up there." '''Coyote: “Yeah, sure.” Jasper knelt down, then heaved Larkin up onto her shoulders. Jen: ''' Larkin scraped at the base of one of the glowing stones until the tip of her knife found a gap in the seam. The light surrendered to the prying with a cracking sound but, much to Larkin's satisfaction, kept glowing. She did the same to two others, the signaled Jasper to let her down. '''Coyote: Jasper crouched down and let Larkin slide off. “Huh, good thinking,” Jasper said. She tucked one into her pouch. Then she unbraided some twine from her hair and used it to fashion the stone into a necklace, then hung it around her neck. That way she could see, but she didn’t have to hold the light. She wanted her hands free to kill things if she had to. She glanced at the corridor ahead hesitantly. “You or me first?” she offered. Jasper wasn’t sure she wanted to go first to make sure it was safe or go second so she could protect their backs. Classic conundrum. She couldn’t protect their backs and also their fronts at the same time. She faced this problem a lot. “If only there were two of me,” Jasper muttered to herself. Like Wyn. Haha, that’d be neat. Two Jaspers. Jen: ''' "Let me," Larkin said. "Wait here." She gestured for Jasper to stay put, then slipped out into the hallway to scout out the way. The light was neat and all, but if anything, it also gave them away to everyone- and everything- around. '''Coyote: Jasper waited there a moment. She leaned against the wall, jiggling her leg, holding her breath. Felt fucking weird, letting someone else go first, but she was... so fucking useless in the dark. If only she had her brothers’ and sister’s eyes. Couldn’t even do her job right. Big lumbering barbarian, shining a bright light in the dark. Ugh. Jen: ''' The hallway was quiet, damp and smelling of mould. Larkin did not go far, only until the next bend in either direction. One was crumpled, possibly collapsed during their fall. Anything coming through that way would have to make enough noise in the loose rubble for them to hear, so they'd take the other way. Larkin stopped by the open cabin door on the way back and motioned for Jasper to follow. Then, remembering Jasper couldn't see her, said, "Clear. Let's go." '''Coyote: Jasper padded after her. They were silent together, their feet making almost no noise against the stone. They walked until they found a bend with a collapsed tunnel, then simply went the way that was clear. Jasper nudged Larkin. With a combination of thieves’ cant and Nighthand, she asked: *Any communication device? Magic?” Maybe Larkin had a sending stone they could use to ask for help. Jen: ''' Larkin could only shake her head. What little bit of magic she had only served to set shit on fire, not communicate. They would have to find their own way out- digging through the rubble on top of the cabin, if need be. '''Coyote: Jasper narrowed her eyes. Well, fuck. — They walked for a long, long time. Sometimes the tunnel went up and sometimes it went down. Jasper made marks on the walls behind them in case they had to double back. A few times they had to change direction, or the tunnel split. It was like a maze down here. Jasper had the weird gut feeling they were going the wrong way. Deeper down, not farther up. Finally, there was an odd noise ahead. It almost sounded like— breathing. Deep, slow breathing. Very deep and very slow. Something about it unsettled Jasper. She glanced at Larkin to see if she heard it too. Jen: ''' Larkin did hear the breathing. It sounded like the rumbling of some underground river at first but then... but then... Larkin stopped dead in her tracks, holding a hand out to keep Jasper from going further. Whatever it was, judging from the frequency and depths it was huge. Larkin shook her other hand, making the signs for silence and danger in quick succession. '''Coyote: Jasper snorted and drew her sword. It was fine. Whatever it was, Jasper could handle the problem. Jasper was good at problems. Jen: ''' "No," Larkin hissed as loudly as she dared. She put a hand to Jasper's sword arm, still making the cant signs with her other. Mask, help these people, why couldn't they never listen to her. '''Coyote: Jasper scoffed. She let Larkin go ahead but kept her sword drawn. Jen: ''' Enemy ahead, Larkin signed. Very, very big. Danger. Avoid. '''Coyote: They kept walking. Finally, they broke out into a large room. Well. It... felt like a large room, at least. The air felt colder here, somehow; she could hear the echoing of water on the far side of the cavern, and there was something breathing in the darkness. Jasper could barely see, though; the stone only lit a twenty-foot radius around her. There were collapsed building around them, old apartments and temples. She tucked the lightstone into her shirt to make sure no one could see them. She glanced at Larkin. Larkin would be able to tell what was going on. "What is it?" she whispered. "What's breathing? Can you see?" Jen: ''' Jasper wouldn't be fucking stopped, so Larkin had no choice but to trail behind. At least the two of them were able to move quietly. Larkin actually hadn't expected Jasper to be so stealthy- tall and lively as she was. But then again, Roddy was one of those huge and silent sorts, too. While moving, at least. They entered into something like a massive hollow in the earth. The echoes of the breathing, running water, and small, skittering feet bounced all around them. Larkin could make out neither the ceiling, nor the far side of the cavern but from the noise, she judged it to be at least half a mile or so in diameter. All around them were old, collapsed structures and not a hundred feet away from them a mountain of rubble rose out of the ground. A mountain that... Larkin grabbed for Jasper's elbow, digging her fingers in to make her comply, and pivoted Jasper around to drag her behind a boulder.. '''Coyote: Jasper stumbled after her. She started to ask: What is it? then quickly shut her mouth. She made the quick thieves’ cant symbol for problem? Jen: ''' Huge fucking problem, Larkin signed, waving her hand wildly to get the huge and the fucking parts across. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the breathing mountain. Danger ahead. Not going that way. Can't fight. The last sign was acompanied by a shake of her head because this one wasn't fucking optional. '''Coyote: Jasper glanced in the direction Larkin gestured. She signed: What is it? Monster? Jen: ''' Larkin nodded- then shrugged. She started stringing signs together trying to explain but had to realize thieves' cant wasn't made for this kind of thing, and her command of Nighthand was still too rudimentary. Instead, she gestured at Jasper to come closer so she could whisper in her ear. "That mountain ahead," Larkin said, making the words barely audible, "is alive. Breathing." '''Coyote: Jasper squinted at Larkin for a long moment. She squinted into the dark, then squinted at Larkin again. Jasper nodded slowly, then hopped silently over the ridge to go check it out. Jen: ''' "Jasper!" Larkin shouted and sprang up, forgetting for a moment to be quiet. Then she remembered and ducked back behind the cover, fully expecting that beast under the hill to wake up and crush them. '''Coyote: Jasper dove back under cover, clapping a hand over Larkin’s mouth. They held there, not moving, breathing hard, listening for the creature to wake up. Nothing happened. “Huh,” Jasper said. She let her hand drop. She stared out into the dark where Larkin said the monster was. Jasper glanced at Larkin. Then she crawled back over the ridge, sheathing her sword. She moved forward, heading towards the mountainous beast. She pulled out her glowstone again, holding it up. She stood in front of a foot. An enormous foot, bigger than her. It was all she could see. The creature was encased in some sort of... rock. Jasper recognized it; it was a liquid stone called concrete that hardened once you mixed it together and poured it. It was often used in buildings in Moorland. Someone had encased an enormous beast in concrete. It slept in the ruins of the city. “Huh,” Jasper said again. Jen: ''' Larkin gave up trying to get Jasper to use some common sense and, throwing her own over board, went after her. The closer Larkin got, the clearer became the shape of the hill but it just didn't make any sense until she stood right next to Jasper. The glow of her little light illuminated claws longer than canal boats and scales big as kite shields. This close, the breathing of the beast wasn't just audible anymore, it vibrated through the air, the ground, and Larkin's bones. "Fuck me blind," she said, head tilted up, mouth hanging open. "What the nine hells is that?" '''Coyote: Jasper stared at it, dumbstruck. She remembered history lessons from her tutors back home. Her mom always insisted on having her educated, though Jasper hadn’t cared much for it. But she remembered reading about the history of the Calamity, and how Skyport was the last city destroyed when the World Eater attacked. “Tarrasque,” Jasper whispered reverently. “World-Eater.” Jen: ''' The hair on Larkin's neck rose at that and she grabbed for Jasper's wrist. "We gotta get the fuck out of here," she hissed. '''Coyote: Jasper nodded rapidly. She scrambled to follow Larkin. Then she paused, looked back, and ran back. One of the tarrasque’s scales had fallen on the ground. Jasper grabbed and strapped it to her back as a shield. Neat. Tarrasque scale. She had no clue what she was gonna do with it, but she sure had it now, huh. She followed Larkin, not sure which way to go. She couldn’t see any exits from here, but maybe Larkin could. Jen: ''' "Come on," Larkin urged when Jasper turned back but she returned soon enough. They reached the mouth of the hallway they'd come through but that way, they both knew, lay no exit. Leading them along the lefthand wall, Larkin spotted several dark openings. Some were big, yawning holes in the darkness, others half-buried cracks and some the rectangular shapes of more corridors. Whatever myths people told about there being a labyrinth under Skyport, at least this much was true: they'd soon be fucking lost if they tried to find and exit by sheer luck. "Where do we go?" Larkin said under her breath, more to herself than Jasper. She eyed the hallway openings. That shaft they'd fallen through couldn't have been the only one, could it? Maybe if they found another one they could climb back out. Also... Mask, Larkin had almost forgotten why they'd come here in the first place. She stopped and turned to Jasper. "The wares. Haeth had to get them in somehow. There must be a way the mule got in under the city walls." '''Coyote: “Yeah, yeah. There must be an exit back up to the Basha warehouse— or the sewers— somewhere,” Jasper said. “How do we fucking know which way is up, though?” Jen: ''' Larkin took out the third light she'd pocketed and used it to light the floor while walking back to the entrance they'd come from. "He's used this one often," she explained. "The carrier must've left some signs. Footprints or... or... markings." She shone the light along the walls and rocks around, looking for anything standing out. '''Coyote: Jasper spotted tracks on the ground and knelt to inspect them. She traced them with her finger. They were shaped like clawed human footprints-- but as they continued along down the cave, the tracks abruptly stopped, as if the person had vanished. Instead, there was a new set of doglike footprints. "Huh," Jasper said. She and Larkin exchanged glances, and they began to follow the tracks. END Title: Elevator Summary: Jasper and Larkin accidentally become trapped in the Undercity. There, they find out that the tarrasque who caused the Calamity is hibernating under Skyport. Category:Text Roleplay